Sebastian County Quorum Court OKs Settlement In Jail Death

The Sebastian County Quorum Court approved a $145,000 appropriation toward the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from a strangling death that occurred in the county jail in 2010.

During a special meeting Tuesday, justices of the peace voted 11-0, with two members of the 13-member panel absent, to appropriate the sum from the Jail Restricted Fund to pay the balance of a $495,000 settlement, $350,000 of which is covered by the county insurance program.

Mike Rainwater, an attorney representing the insurance program, said the appropriation was the last action needed to close the case.

“We’ve been through mediation, and the parties agreed on this settlement. It’s done,” he said.

In the federal case, Joe Wolf sued Sebastian County as well as several county and Adult Detention Center officials in February 2012, alleging the county and jail were at fault in his brother’s death.

His brother, Gary Van Wolf, 64, was incarcerated when he was strangled on Sept. 16, 2010. Fellow inmate Ashley Eugene Kaufman, 28, confessed to the killing and was convicted of first-degree murder in April 2012. He received a life sentence.

The $495,000 settlement agreement resulted from a conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Marschewski on Feb. 28.

County Judge David Hudson said after the meeting that Wolf and his three attorneys as well as two defense attorneys, one each for the county officials and county employees, had signed off on the settlement.

In a joint memo to JPs, Hudson and Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck wrote that the county is “proactively addressing” jail operations by adding staff and operations funding.

In February, the Quorum Court agreed to new allocations of revenues from the countywide sales tax to benefit the jail. If voters renew the tax May 14, the jail operations allowance will increase from 44 percent to 54.5 percent. The added funds will allow Hollenbeck to hire 11 new deputies and possibly lift sanctions by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has cited the county jail for years as overcrowded and understaffed.